The Lengberg Finds. Remnants of a lost 15th century tailoring revolution

Abstract

Among the textile fragments discovered at Lengberg Castle in East‐Tyrol, Austria, were a few almost completely preserved pieces of garments such as several nearly complete linen bras and fragments of possibly skirted bodices. Before the finds at Lengberg Castle, no physical evidence of supportive undergarments, so-called ‘breast bags’, had been discovered, although garments of this type were mentioned in several written sources of the time. There were also fragments of linen linings for three gowns: two for a small girl (one of blue wool and one of red silk) and one blue woollen example for an adult woman. These linen linings are most noteworthy for the techniques applied to their tailoring.
The Lengberg lining fragments demonstrate that 15th century tailors had a highly-advanced understanding of the bias properties of fabrics, far beyond anything expected, and not to be duplicated in fashion until the 1930s.
In the creation of the fashionable 15th century gowns with under-bust pleating, the tailors used the bias collapse and drape of the fabrics to provide the shaping around the individual breasts, instead of using straight grain panels and gores, as is seen in the Greenland finds – a dramatic revolution in tailoring techniques. While this design augmented the shape of the breasts, it provided no support, and thus separate supportive garments were worn under the gown to support, shape and lift the breast. With the transition to Italian style garments at the beginning of the 16th century, these bias techniques of women’s tailoring were no longer needed, and thus were lost, with bias-cut hose and stockings being the only remnant of this tailoring revolution.
The aim of this research is to draw a correlation between supportive undergarments and the tailoring of the gowns worn over them. The bra allows for looser tailoring of the gown, which accentuates two separate breasts, as opposed to supportive kirtles which result in a monobosom (one curving mound). One garment requires the other. The three gowns, the supportive underwear and smocks are under reconstruction to better understand the
tailoring methods used, how the single garments worked individually and as layers (supportive undergarment – smock – gown), and contribute to the study of female apparel of the second half of the 15th century.

Full text

Technical University of Liberec, Faculty of Textile Engineering
in cooperation with
Institute of Archaeology of the CAS, Prague
Liberec – Praha
2017
Archaeological Textiles – Links Between Past and Present
NESAT XIII
Milena Bravermanová – Helena Březinová – Jane Malcolm-Davies (Editors)

Archaeological Textiles – Links Between Past and Present. NESAT XIII.
Milena Bravermanová – Helena Březinová – Jane Malcolm-Davies (Editors)
NESAT board:
Johanna Banck-Burgess, Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Helena Březinová, Institute of Archaeology of the CAS, Prague, Czech Republic
Margarita Gleba, University of Cambridge, Great Britain
Karina Grömer, Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria
Sanna Lipkin, University of Oulu, Finland
Jerzy Maik, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Ulla Mannering, National Museum of Denmark, Denmark
Antoinette Rast-Eicher, Archeotex, Switzerland
Peer-reviewers:
NESAT board members, Chrystel Brandenburgh, Milena Bravermanová, Maria Cybulska, Lise Bender Jørgensen,
Katrin Kania, David Kohout, Noortje Kramer, Hana Lukešová, Magdalena Majorek, Frances Pritchard, Magdalena
Przymorska-Sztuczka, Dana Szemályová, Tereza Štolcová, Veronika Šulcová, Agata Ulanowska, Kristýna Urbanová,
Ina Vanden Berghe, John Peter Wild
© Technical University of Liberec, Faculty of Textile Engineering
© Institute of Archaeology of the CAS, Prague
© The authors
ISBN 978-80-7494-397-3 (Technical University of Liberec, Faculty of Textile Engineering)
ISBN 978-80-7581-003-8 (Institute of Archaeology of the CAS, Prague)
Katalogizace vknize / Cataloguing in Publication
902.2 * 903.2 * 902:904 * 677.074/.077 * (4) * (062.534)
- archeologické výzkumy -- Evropa
- archeologické nálezy -- Evropa
- textilie – dějiny
- sborníky konferencí
677 - Textilní průmysl [19]
- excavations (archaeology) -- Europe
- antiquities -- Europe
- textile fabrics -- history
- proceedings of conferences
677 - Textiles [19]

3
CONTENTS
NESAT XIII – North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles 7
Foreword 9
M. Bravermanová – H. Březinová: Archaeological Textile Research in the Czech Republic 11
I. PREHISTORY & PROTOHISTORY 19
S. Harris – A. M. Jones: Beautiful Things 21
Textiles and bre artefacts from an Early Bronze Age cremation, Whitehorse Hill, England
J. Słomska – Ł. Antosik: Textile Products from Świbie 31
Clues to textile production in the Early Iron Age in modern Poland
M. Przymorska-Sztuczka: New Textile Finds from the Wielbark Culture 39
Cemetery in Wilkowo, Lębork District, Poland
N. Kramer: Archaeological Textiles from the Roman Period in the Netherlands 51
T. Štolcová – D. Schaarschmidt – I. Vanden Berghe – S. Mitschke: Insights into Multicoloured 61
Tapestry Textiles from Poprad-Matejovce, Slovakia
Excavation, conservation and analysis
A. Rast-Eicher – W. Nowik – N. Garnier: Textiles from Two Late Roman Graves Found 73
in aMausoleum in Jaunay-Clan near Poitiers, France
Z. Kaczmarek: Creolising Textiles 83
Some new light on textile production and consumption in Roman Age Free Germania
II. EARLY MIDDLE AGES 93
K. Grömer – E. Nowotny – M. Obenaus: Simple Linen, Patterned Fabrics and Silk Textiles 95
Textile culture on the south border of Great Moravia: Thunau in Lower Austria
U. Mannering – I. Skals: Textile News from Bornholm in Denmark 107
Recently excavated textiles from awell-known Late Iron Age cemetery
F. Pritchard: Twill Weaves from Viking Age Dublin 115
E. Wincott Heckett: Textiles from the Viking Warrior Grave, Woodstown, County Waterford, Ireland 125
S. Jansone: Textile Imprints in Grobiņa
Fabrics and their possible uses 133
M. Brunori – V. Sonnati – I. Degano – S. Bracci: The Con Cloth of Henry VII, 139
Holy Roman Emperor (†1313)
Adiagnostic investigation and conservation intervention

III. MIDDLE AGES 149
E. Retournard: Textiles for Miners and Mining 151
Archaeological textiles from the 12th to 14th centuries from Brandes-en-Oisans, Isère, France
R. Rammo: Archaeological Textiles from a Medieval Cog Found in Estonia 159
R. Case – M. McNealy – B. Nutz: The Lengberg Finds 167
Remnants of alost 15th century tailoring revolution
D. Henri: Textile Production and Consumption in the 15th and 16th Centuries in Tours, France 177
An archaeological approach
IV. MODERN ERA 185
J. Malcolm-Davies: ‘Silk’ Hats from aSheep’s Back 187
How sixteenth century craftspeople created legal luxuries
N. A. Pavlova: Children’s Burial Clothing from the 16th and 17th Centuries 197
Excavated in the Ascension Convent of the Moscow Kremlin
B. Nutz: Peasants and Servants 207
Deliberately concealed garments, textiles and textile tools from arural farm building
V. ANALYSES 217
H. Lukešová: Application of the Herzog Test to Archaeological Plant Fibre Textiles 219
The possibilities and limits of polarised light microscopy
K. Vajanto – M. Pasanen: Lichen Purple, Tannin Red 227
Reconstructing aViking Age Finnish woman’s woollen shawl
A. Bruselius Scharff: The Assessment of Natural Pigmentation in Archaeological Wool 235
VI. EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY & TEXTILE TOOLS 243
J. Banck-Burges – H. Igel: Experimental Archaeology as aKey for the Recognition 245
of the Cultural-Historical Value of Archaeological Textiles
A. Rast-Eicher: The Pfäkon-Irgenhausen Textile 259
Discussion of adecoration system
K. Kania: To Spin aGood Yarn 265
Spinning techniques with handspindles
I. Demant: Making an Iron Age Dress on the Warp-Weighted Loom 275
The results of experimental archaeology

J. Chylíková: An Interpretation of the ‘Bombastic’ Cham Culture Spindle Whorls 283
by an Archaeological Experiment
M. de Diego – R. Piqué – M. Saña – I. Clemente – M. Mozota – A. Palomo – X. Terradas: 293
Fibre Production and Emerging Textile Technology in the Early Neolithic Settlement of La Draga
Banyoles, north-east Iberia; 5300 to 4900 cal BC
VII. OVERVIEWS 303
J. Maik: The Beginnings of Polish Research on Archaeological Textiles 305
A. Rybarczyk: Knitting in Old Elbląg 311
Archaeological and historical evidence
M. Cybulska – D. Berbelska: Museum Collections in the Study 321
of Archaeological and Historic Textiles
VIII. COLOUR PLATES SECTION 329
IX. POSTERS 347

167
The Lengberg Finds
Remnants of a lost 15th century tailoring revolution
Rachel Case – Marion McNealy – Beatrix Nutz
Abstract
Among the textile fragments discovered at Lengberg Castle in East‐Tyrol, Austria, were afew almost completely
preserved pieces of garments such as several nearly complete linen bras and fragments of possibly skirted
bodices. Before the finds at Lengberg Castle, no physical evidence of supportive undergarments, so-called ‘breast
bags’, had been discovered, although garments of this type were mentioned in several written sources of the
time. There were also fragments of linen linings for three gowns: two for asmall girl (one of blue wool and one
of red silk) and one blue woollen example for an adult woman. These linen linings are most noteworthy for the
techniques applied to their tailoring.
The Lengberg lining fragments demonstrate that 15th century tailors had ahighly-advanced understanding of
the bias properties of fabrics, far beyond anything expected, and not to be duplicated in fashion until the 1930s.
In the creation of the fashionable 15th century gowns with under-bust pleating, the tailors used the bias collapse
and drape of the fabrics to provide the shaping around the individual breasts, instead of using straight grain
panels and gores, as is seen in the Greenland finds – adramatic revolution in tailoring techniques. While this
design augmented the shape of the breasts, it provided no support, and thus separate supportive garments were
worn under the gown to support, shape and lift the breast. With the transition to Italian style garments at the
beginning of the 16th century, these bias techniques of women’s tailoring were no longer needed, and thus were
lost, with bias-cut hose and stockings being the only remnant of this tailoring revolution.
The aim of this research is to draw acorrelation between supportive undergarments and the tailoring of the
gowns worn over them. The bra allows for looser tailoring of the gown, which accentuates two separate breasts,
as opposed to supportive kirtles which result in amonobosom (one curving mound). One garment requires the
other. The three gowns, the supportive underwear and smocks are under reconstruction to better understand the
tailoring methods used, how the single garments worked individually and as layers (supportive undergarment –
smock – gown), and contribute to the study of female apparel of the second half of the 15th century.
Keywords: Lengberg, bras, bodice, underwear, gowns, 15th century, bias, tailoring
1. FIND CONTEXT OF THE TEXTILES
In the course of extensive reconstruction at Lengberg Castle in 2008, archaeological investiga-
tions of several parts of the building took place under the direction of Harald Stadler (Institute
for Archaeologies, University of Innsbruck). During the research, alled vault was detected
below the oorboards of aroom on the second oor. e ll consisted of dry material, among
them more than 2,700 textile fragments. e architectural history of the castle and the archaeo-
logical features date the nds to the 15th century. is date has been conrmed by ve radio-
carbon-dates. e material was probably dumped in the vault when another storey was added to
the building by order of Virgil of Graben who became lord of the castle in 1480. e extension
was possibly nished by October 1485, when the castle chapel was consecrated by the Bishop

168
of Caorle (Egger 1947, 35). is leads to the conclusion that the nds from the vault most likely
predate the year 1485. e garments found in the vault were perhaps worn by members of the
family Mosheimer who were responsible for (‘Burghut’ or ‘Pege’) Lengberg from 1419 to 1480
(Plattner 2013, 39-41).
2. THE MEDIEVAL IDEAL OF BEAUTY
In contrast to the modern erotic ideal of afull bosom, the ideal of asmall, rm breast prevailed
in medieval Europe. In the French chanson de geste ‘Fierabras’, dating to circa 1170, the perfect
breasts are described as ‘Petites mameletes, … Dures comme pumetes’ [small breasts, … hard as
apples] (Kroeber – Servois 1860, 62; Waugh 1999, 8). In addition to medical tinctures to ‘shrink’
the bosom (Mondeville 1893, 589-590; Kruse 1999, 82-83), cloth bands, later ‘sacks/bags for the
breast’ or ‘breast-bags’ were ameans of achieving this (Descamps 1832, 142; ‘Meister Reuauß’
in Heyne 1903, 312). is ideal of beauty persisted into the 15th century. In one of his sermons,
Gilbert of Hoyland (†1172) described how breasts should be to be considered beautiful, and how
to achieve this beauty if they are not ideal by nature:
‘And if you want to hear something spiritual, which expresses beauty, then Iadvise
you to study the women who take care of their body and attire and who obtained
some workmanship in it. Because what dothey strive more to doin decorating their
chests, as that their breasts are not oversized, ugly and cover aportion of the breast
itself? erefore they bind oversized and hanging breasts together with breast bands
so as to cure an error of nature through their artistry. For only those breasts are beau-
tiful that protrude just alittle and are moderately plump, that are not too prominent,
but are not at the same level with the rest of the esh, as it were the breast that are
compact, but not at, who are alittle restrained and donot hang immoderately.’
(Hoyland undated, Sermo XXXI, 0163A; translation by Florian Schaenrath 2016;
see also Waugh 1999, 8; Eco 2002, 11).
3. THE EXTANT ‘BREAST-BAGS’
Prior to the nds at Lengberg castle, no other supportive garments with separate cups for the
breasts have been found that date back to the 15th century (Nutz 2013, 221-225). Although the
extant garment is partially preserved, with only the front and some of the le side of the bodice
remaining, there is enough le of the garment to understand how it was originally constructed
(Fig. 1/3). At rst glance, especially from amodern point of view, one would not necessarily
conclude that it was originally skirted. But depictions of skirted undergarments in the visual
record point to the very plausible idea that this garment originally had skirts attached, which
were probably ripped away at some point in order to reuse the fabric.
e cups are constructed in two vertical halves which are cut on the straight of the grain, but
are not quite symmetrical: the outer cup halves have aslightly steeper curve (Fig. 1/5), which
may have counteracted the ‘east-westing’ phenomenon, in which the breasts would have tended
to face away from each other if the two halves of the cups were the same size and shape. e
linen in the cups is of aslightly ner weave (13 to 14 threads per cm) than the rest of the garment

169
Fig. 1: 1) Woman with suppor tive (?) undergarment; 2) Woman and girl with ‘apple breasts’ (Schachzabelbuch – Cod.poet.
et phil. folio 2, 73v, 255r. Available at http://digital.wlb-stuttgart.de/purl/bsz330052896). © Württembergische Landes-
bibliothek Stuttgart, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike; 3) Extant skirted bra from Lengberg Castle, East Tyrol,
circa 1410-1480; 3a) Front and back of eyelet; 4) Sprang insert on the reconstructed skirted bra; 5) Pattern of the cup;
6) Construction of the eyelet row; 7) Front (a) and side view (b) of the reconstructed skirted bra on a custom-made dress
form, waist = 71.5 cm; bust = 84 cm (European size 36). © B. Nutz, A. Blaickner.

170
(12 threads per cm). ere is also an indication that there was acentre seam in the rib cage area of
the front of the skirted bra, the clever shaping of which may have helped the bra lie close to the body.
e space between the cups of the extant bra now has only fragments of needle lace remain-
ing, but probably also held asprang (Collingwood 1999, 33) inset connected to angerloop braid
(Nutz 2014, 118) with simple needle lace.1 is inset served two purposes; it helped the cups lie
at, and the sprang may have also provided coverage for the décolletage.
Asmall but important detail of note is the narrow hem on the extant bra, with adoubled (two
2-ply yarns) linen sewing thread still attached. e hem has sewing holes in it indicating that
there was originally stitching along that edge. is indicates the presence of attached skirts. e
eyelets are sewn with asimple whip stitch (Fig. 1/3a) in contrast to the eyelets on asilk facing
from London dating to the 14th century (Crowfoot et al. 1996, 164). Atwisted cord is encased in
the fabric’s edge where the eyelets are located at the side of the bra. is is stitched in place with
back stitch (Fig. 1/6). is cord reinforces the fabric’s edge, ensuring the garment ts closely
without deforming the body of the bra.
e body of the skirted bra ends at what was most likely the natural waistline, just below the
ribcage. Narrow shoulder straps made of fabric strips folded in half and whip-stitched closed
remain intact; one strap was mended at some point with ablue linen thread. e back of the
garment is missing.
4. POSSIBLE PICTORIAL EVIDENCE OF ‘BREAST-BAGS’
Manuscripts dating from the mid-15th century begin to show aparticular undergarment with
skirts that is reminiscent of the Lengberg bra. ese garments feature pleated/gathered skirts,
and depict breasts as separate and lied; anew fashion made necessary by achange in gown
styles. Although these garments donot show separate cups, the sheer number of images supports
the idea that askirted undergarment was most likely an eective solution to breast support in
15th century Germany and Austria (Fig. 1/1).
Many of these manuscripts also show aparticular gown style, which features pleats in the
front just under the bust and sometimes ‘apple breasts’ (Fig. 1/2). e construction of these
gowns requires support for the breasts in an underlayer. e presence of the ‘skirted bra’ and
an extant gown of this pleated type in the Lengberg nds supports the idea that the underlayer
consisted of asupportive garment. Without this supportive layer, the prole of the breasts would
change, and would not appear as separate, lied breasts.
5. WRITTEN SOURCES ON BREAST SUPPORT
Several medieval texts mention the age-old problem of breast support as ways of achieving the
desired ideal of beauty, for example, Henri de Mondeville in his ‘Cirurgia’ (Mondeville 1893, 590)
and Konrad Stolle in his chronicle for the year 1480 (Stolle 1854, 189-190). While some writers
did not voice an opinion or mocked the ‘bundling up’ (Descamps 1832, 142), some did, and the
authorities of Strasbourg obviously considered it so damnable that their sumptuary law issued
in 1370 demanded: ‘at no woman, whoever she is, from now on show o her breasts, neither
with shirts, nor bands, skirts or other prisons, … that her breasts may not be seen, …’ (Brucker
1889, 292).

171
Despite the occasional expression of disapproval, the medieval beauty ideal of small, rm
breasts may have led to the ‘invention’ of ‘breast bags’ (or ‘bras’) and consequently to the inge-
nious use of the bias properties in dress design at the end of the Middle Ages to eectively show
o the ‘apple breasts’.
6. THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SKIRTED BRA
Areconstruction was made to demonstrate what the original garment may have looked like
when it was new (Fig. 1/7a, b).
e body and skirts of the reconstructed garment are made of amid-weight oyster linen with
athread count of 15 threads per cm, and the cups are of aslightly ner, thinner linen with 18
threads per cm. e threads used in the reconstruction are hand-spun linen plied yarn (z-spun,
S-twist) made to match the extant threads as closely as possible. e four dierent stitch types
in the extant garment were also used in the reconstruction. ese were overcast stitches for the
hems, whip-stitches to connect the skirts with the body of the bra, backstitches along the centre
front and the eyelet edge (with encased cord), and adouble running stitch (arunning stitch with
asecond running stitch to ll in the empty spaces) on the cups. Double running stitch is mainly
used for embroidery and, coming from Italy, spread throughout Europe in the 16th century
(Bergemann 2010, 290). At Lengberg, however, it was used for aseam that needed extra strength
and stability and, since neatness seems to have been unimportant, it was executed rather untidily.
Half-fell seams are used throughout the reconstruction.
ree dierent thread manipulation techniques were used to embellish the space between the
cups: sprang, ngerloop braids, and needle lace. e sprang covers the décolletage (Fig. 1/4), in
the same pattern found in another sprang piece from the Lengberg nds. It was shaped to t the
space by untwisting unnecessary areas and xing them in place, thus removing extra bulk. Fin-
gerloop braid was used to span the space between the top edges of the bra, and is connected to
the sprang with asimple needle lace pattern. Needle lace is also used to embellish the inner cup
edges. e sprang inset is sewn directly to the needle lace. A‘broad lace with ve loops’ (Benns –
Barrett 2005, 39; Nutz 2014, 126) is used for all the ngerloop braids, including the braids used
to lace up the garment.
e skirts serve asurprising practical purpose: without attached skirts, the garment would
ride up and bunch up underneath the breasts. is problem is solved with the addition of attached
skirts, with the weight of the skirts keeping the body of the bra in place. e skirts on the recon-
struction are intended to fall to mid-calf on awoman of approximately 158 cm based on the
historical height average of European women in the 15th century (Koepke – Baten 2008).
Although the extant garment is missing its right side, the reconstruction is made to lace up
both sides to accommodate weight gain or loss. Lacing along one side would misalign the gar-
ment if the wearer gained weight and the lacing needed to be loosened. e lacing eyelets con-
tinue to the hip.
e skirts are made of two wide panels sewn together with arunning stitch and pleated along
the top edge using atechnique similar to the shirts in the Lengberg nds, using astem-stitch to
x the pleats in place (Nutz – Stadler 2012). Anarrow strip covers the pleating stitches on the
inside. e skirts are whip-stitched in place with adoubled thread.
is garment served as the layer worn next to the skin, with additional layers of garments,
including asmock and agown and possibly another in between them.

172
7. WOMAN’S GOWN LINING FRAGMENT
e woman’s gown fragment consists of one side of the front of the gown. ere is no back sec-
tion (Fig. 2/8, 10). e style of the original gown is similar to that seen in acopper engraving
dating 1460 to 1465 (Fig. 2/9). It is made of ane linen fabric with 12 to 13 threads per cm
(Fig. 2/11a) in anatural cream colour, stitched with aheavier weight cream linen plied yarn.
e lining is made of two main sections: ashoulder piece cut on the straight of grain, and
abreast panel, which is set on bias point into the shoulder piece (Fig. 2/8). e breast panel also
has avery clever side dart, which is part of the seam setting the panel into the shoulder piece,
and this helps to curve the fabric over the side of the breast. Because of this dart, the grain of the
fabric runs straight down between the breasts, allowing for the fashionable well dened look. e
breast panel seam is strengthened with astrip of selvedge from the same fabric as the lining. e
front pleats are formed by the fullness of the breast panel, and are secured in place with arow of
stitching, with alinen thread tie extending from this edge (Fig. 2/8).
ere are only afew tiny fragments of the original blue wool le on the outside (Fig. 2/11b),
but these show that the wool was laid over the top of the linen lining aer the latter had been
sewn together, and the wool was pad stitched in place over the curved sections. Evidence for
this construction technique is seen in asmall section of wool remaining, which extends over the
top of the linen seam, matching the bias grain of the linen, where there is no seam in the wool.
is method would have resulted in the wool being on the bias grain at the shoulder. e lining
thus became the supportive structure underneath it, with the wool being secured to it with pad
stitching, preventing the wool from stretching out of shape at the neck and shoulder. e edges
of the woollen pieces were then turned under, stitched with aspaced back stitch, and secured to
the edge of the lining with awhip stitch. e linen has no edge nish to prevent fraying, even so
the edge is only very slightly frayed.
8. GIRL’S GOWN LINING FRAGMENT
e girl’s gown fragment has one half of the front, and the full back section extant (Fig. 2/15,
16). It is the only known surviving remnant of this type of pleated gown, and is similar in style
to the back of the gown in apainting by the Master of Uttenheim dated 1470 to 1480 (Fig. 2/13).
e lining is of aheavy weight linen with 7 to 8 threads per cm (Fig. 2/14a), with aner linen
of 12 threads per cm shoulder section (Fig. 2/14c), which places the front shoulder seam and
neckline on the straight of grain (Fig. 2/15 front), similar to the women’s gown. Aheavier weight
dark brown linen thread is used for all of the stitching.
e pattern shape for the back is ingenious, and allows for minimal fabric waste while fully
utilising the bias grain in the design. e back shoulder seam and full length of the back straps
are on the straight of grain. e short centre back seam appears to be on the 45° bias grain but it
is actually acomplex curve, as seen in the o-cut from awoman’s gown of the same style found at
Lengberg (Fig. 3/19 – colour plates section). is complex curve allows the straps to be angled at
45° to 50°. e angle of the curve is then gradually reduced to 0° to ease out most of the angle into
the centre back. During the reconstruction process, it was discovered that without this curve, the
junction between the centre back seam and the straight grain body section is too sharp, and the
fabric pokes out in an unsatisfactory way. Even with the curve, this is still aslight problem, but
this issue is easily resolved by steaming the wool well, stretching it and pounding it at as it cools.
e wool and linen both atten out during this process and the armholes also begin to open.

173
Fig. 2: 8) Fragment of the woman’s gown from Lengberg Castle, East Tyrol. Linen lining with outer layer of blue wool
with grain lines; 9) Partial re-drawing of a young girl, workshop of Master E.S., circa 1460-1465. The part of the dress
that corresponds with the fragment from Lengberg is highlighted in dark grey; 10) Fragment of the woman’s gown –
three-quarter view – on a dress form European size 36; 11) Linen lining (a), blue wool fabric of outer layer (b), squares
= 1 cm x 1 cm; 12) Schematic of the grain of the fabric rotating to the bias and collapsing into a diamond shape; 13)
Partial re-drawing of servant, Birth of the Virgin Mary, Master of Uttenheim? circa 1470-1480. The part of the dress that
corresponds with the fragment from Lengberg is highlighted in dark grey; 14) Linen lining (a), blue wool fabric of outer
layer (b), linen lining of front shoulder part (c), squares = 1 cm x 1 cm; 15) Fragment of the girl’s gown from Lengberg
Castle, East Tyrol. Linen lining with outer layer of blue wool. Front and back of the gown with grain lines; 16) Front (top)
and back (bottom) of extant gown on a dress form for a four-year-old child. © B. Nutz, A. Blaickner.

174
e armholes themselves are cut very small – see Fig. 3/17 (colour plates section), where an
ocut has been photographed next to the nished armhole. e latter is considerably larger than
the piece cut away. If the armholes had been cut as large as they are in the nished garment, there
would be insucient fabric for the centre back pleats, and they would stretch out of shape quite
easily. As this small armhole is expanded by the insertion of the sleeves, the fabric released by
this expansion shis from the sides to the centre back, and allows for the extra fabric needed for
the back pleats.
e wool outer layer is cut in one piece on the fold. e back of the linen lining is in two
pieces, seamed with aback stitch. e fold of the wool layer is caught in the linen seam, securing
it to the lining, and creating afalse centre back seam in the wool layer only, which was essential
to the construction of the fan of back pleats.
e curved centre back seam in the wool was sewn in back stitch, and the seam allowances
were opened up and back stitched in place. e edges of this gown were nished in asimilar
fashion to those on the woman’s gown.
Pad stitching was also used, as in the woman’s gown, to secure the wool to the linen, stabi-
lising it and preventing it from stretching (Figs 2/15, 3/18 – colour plates section). Bands of
stitching secured the two layers around the armholes and in the upper front and back. Rows of
pad stitching, with additional rows of back stitch and chain stitch also stabilise and frame the
area around the top of the back pleats. e pleats are secured by several passes of threads through
the pleats on the front, and asecond row of stitches on the back, which secures the pleats to each
other.
e front pleats were formed by a45° angle extension from the centre front, and one row of
chain stitches roughly following the straight of grain acts as aframe for the front pleat.
9. TAILORING TECHNIQUES
e gown fragments found at Lengberg oer aunique view into the tailoring techniques of the
15th century. Textile remains from this period of fashion are rare in the historical record. e
breasts are not commonly visible as two separately dened mounds in the outer clothing layer.
Cloth does not naturally dip between the breasts. It continues in astraight line between the two
breast points. In order to accomplish this dip, the techniques used to create the Lengberg gar-
ments are highly instructive, relying heavily on the use of the bias in order to curve the fabric
between the breasts.
ese gowns are masterpieces of working with the grain of the fabric – by stretching it
and shaping it – to achieve the desired the result. e tailors used the bias in various ways to
create the pleats, using dierent methods in dierent places on the gowns. As the grain of the
fabric rotates to the bias, the threads donot remain square, but collapse into adiamond shape
(Fig. 2/12).
To accomplish this desired shaping, the wool was pad-stitched into place over the curved
linen lining, and then the two layers were stretched and shrunk into the desired shape using
adamp pressing cloth and hot iron.
e reconstruction of the girl’s gown (Fig. 3/17, 18 – colour plates section) led to an inte-
resting nding that these gowns appear impossible to recreate without the use of an iron. e
iron is an especially important tool in the shaping of the back. Sad irons are known at least from
the 14th century (LoeCherbach 2006, 60-63; Fig. 3/20 – colour plates section) and can be seen
in depictions of tailors’ workshops (Fig. 3/21 – colour plates section) but there were no actual
indications that tailors of this time were using them to manipulate the shape of the fabric as 19th
century tailors did.

175
10. CONCLUSION
ese rare garment nds give us aunique view into the tailoring techniques which were lost
with the change in women’s fashion at the end of the 15th century. e support achieved by the
skirted bra allows for agown which skims the body and is not at all supportive of the bust. e
impressive use of the bias, darts, pad stitching and iron to shape the garment were unexpected
in garments of this era, and are the earliest evidence for such techniques. e study and recon-
struction of these garments have found answers to many questions about the layers required to
achieve the fashionable ideal of this era.
Acknowledgements
e authors would like to thank the Janet Arnold Award Fund for the grant given to Rachel Case
to travel and study the undergarments in Innsbruck, Austria. Special thanks to Astrida Schaeer,
Schaeer Arts Costume & Exhibition Care, for the custom made dress form for the skirted bra.
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Notes
1. See https://www.uibk.ac.at/urgeschichte/projekte_forschung/textilien-lengberg/nadelspitze/index.html.en
[last accessed 14 November 2017].
Rachel Case
Independent researcher; USA
knit2p2@gmail.com
Marion McNealy
Independent researcher; USA
marion.mcnealy@gmail.com
Beatrix Nutz
Freelance sta, Institute for Archaeology, University of Innsbruck; Austria
beatrix.nutz@student.uibk.ac.at

329
VIII. COLOUR PLATES SECTION

338
R. Case – M. McNealy – B. Nutz: The Lengberg Finds. Remnants of a lost 15th century tailoring
revolution (pp. 167-176)
Fig. 3: 17) Reconstructed girl’s blue gown. Full back and front views and back with ocut of the armhole from the linen
lining; 18) Close-ups of the inside of the gown (linen lining), back and front view. © M. McNealy; 19) Triangular ocut,
cut on the fold, linen, z-spun single yarn, balanced plain weave, 13 to 14 threads per cm. © B. Nutz; 20) Sad iron, total
length: 183 mm, max. width 36 mm, Tyrol, circa 1360 to 1450. According to LoeCherbach 2006, 63; 21) Tailor from the
‘Zwölfbrüderstiftung’ with iron on the oor at his left foot. © Stadtbibliothek Nürnberg, Amb. 317.2°, folio 67v.